Seoul and other things

Where to begin? Perhaps I will break this in to two parts.

Part one. Welcome to Jas Johal. After being orphaned by my previous colleague Ben, who took a great opportunity at the “other” network, I found out in late August, early September that my new corresponded would be Jas. Jas is a Vancouver guy, and has spent numerous embeds in Afghanistan. He was also the India correspondent up until the spring when he returned to Vancouver to cover some maternity leave.

So Jas has applied for his Visa for China, but in usual Chinese fashion has been left waiting for 2 and half months. Hopefully it is resolved soon and after my Christmas break the China bureau will be up and running again at full speed.

In the mean time I have been doing a little shooting here and there as Canada and China celebrated 40 years of diplomatic relations in the fall. You wouldn’t know it by the speed of the visa process, but I digress. To many ministers blew through Beijing doing nothing but photo ops and refusing to take questions from the Beijing based Canadian media. Funny, sound a bit like Ottawa.

Part two. The biggest thing lately has been North Korea and South Korea playing kick the can. It has cost the South the lives of 2 marines and 2 citizens. So I don’t wish to make light of there deaths, but I will give you my take on it.

After the shelling, Jas and I talked about going via phone, I didn’t think that Global would pay for it, even though it is a large story with the potential to drag the US in to another war and also possible the Chinese. I doubt it will come to that but Mr. Kim is unpredictable and the Chinese are protective of the Yellow Sea.

I arrived on Saturday night, the 26th of November; Jas flew in from London on the 27th. He was able to line up a professor Andrei Lankov. Interesting character, a little bizarre in mannerisms but knows what he’s talking about. Boils down to this: Blackmail. Give the North Koreans half a billion dollars, they will knock it off for a while. The sub incident, and the shelling are both messages to the US, and South Korea, saying hey, we want food and money, give that and we will be quiet. Don’t and we will cause trouble for you.
Perhaps an over simplification, but I kind of agree with his assessment.

China is the one that concerns me. China with all their economic strength wants to be see as a world player and be take seriously. Well time for them to stand up and smack there neighbour and friend upside the head and tell them to knock it off. China and maybe Iran and Burma are North Korea’s only friends. China is the only country that can apply any pressure on North Korea. Their failure to get involved I think is why they still are not up to the responsibility of being a World Power. It seems China’s biggest concern is that an US aircraft carrier is now in the Yellow Sea. Well if you don’t get off your duff and get involved, expect to see a lot more of the American Navy floating around your house.

Alright, that’s it for now, feel free to comment or tell me I’m way off on my assessments.

Had some great Korean BBQ and Kimchee in Seoul. Have most of my paperwork done for next year and should have my passport back any day now.

So technically 9 months to go in my little deal here. Have to have a talk with Maggi and the bosses, but looking forward to coming home and getting back to family, friends and fishing. Will see if I have one more blog in me before Christmas. If not, enjoy and if you are around Ottawa between the 15th and the 29th, email or call as I’ll be tucked in to Dunrobin Ontario for Christmas. Thanks, Barry.

Been a while i know...

Hello! Been awhile I know. I should call more often, but really not much news to share.

For those of you who don’t follow news much, you might not be aware that my colleague and partner in this little adventure of China has decided to ply his trade with the other private network. The good news is he still works in Beijing so I still have a good friend here. Best of luck Ben, and look forward to working with you again soon my friend. Thanks for bringing me along on this Asian experience.

Now as to what I’ve been up to? Not much. After the GG was here Ben let if out that he was leaving. So two weeks later I was home for couple weeks of holiday. Some fishing, but not nearly enough. Got re-acquainted with my dog, my wife, and my family. At the end of it, there was a little retreat and party for the out going Kevin Newman. Doesn’t seem like a nine year run, but it has been that long. From the beginning of September, 2001 to now. Covered a lot of air miles in that space of time and some interesting stories as well. I can’t thank him enough either. Without Global National with Kevin Newman, I’m not sure where the road would have taken me.

Now for the new guy, Jas Johal. Jas has been Gnat’s India correspondent, so he is no stranger to news and working on a shoestring. Looking forward to the Chinese giving him his Visa soon. So I’ve spent the last 6 weeks or so sorting out internet problems and keeping a low profile.

Late September, my wonderful and patient wife Maggi came for a visit. Went down to Xi’An to see the Terracotta Warriors. The overnight train was a interesting adventure. The length of China’s history is pretty cool and to see this place was fascinating. We also hit the Lama Temple here in Beijing and saw the Monks at work. The chanting is pretty cool. Also went out to the summer palace, another beautiful spot full of history.

Heading out soon a quick little overnight trip about fertilizer and potash. Will try and remember my still camera and hopefully will do a little better in keeping this up to date. For now enjoy a few pictures.

Governor General Visit

The GG was in town early July so Ben, Fan Di, Sean from CTV and I where the pool for it. Got to see the pandas, tour a garment factory and spend may days sweating in high humidity and and heat. Also toured a rebuilt school in Sichaun.

Most of these pictures come from Fan Di. the Video is below for you oh and ah over. Still not sure if panda is tasty though.

Shanghai PJ's

A while back Ben Fan Di and I traveled to Shanghai for the opening of Expo. One of the stories we did was about PJ's. Seems a long time ago wearing your bed cloths out to do your shopping was considered a sign you where wealthy and had leisure time. For expo there was a big push to knock that off. Didn't seem to have much effect on the locals. Athough when we stopped people to talk to them they weren't thrilled to be seen on TV in their PJ's. Pictures are courtesy the fabulous Fan Di.

Lightening

Was able to capture some cool shots of lightening with the video camera.

Here are a couple of stills and a slow motion of the strikes.

Yurts so good...

Not much new since the little Thailand episode. Glad that's over with and in no rush to repeat it.

Most recently had to work a weekend and Fan Di, Ben and I headed up to Angula Lake. About 5 hours drive from Beijing into Hebei, towards Inner Mongolia. Actually it is part of the Mongolian plateau. What makes this lake interesting is that although it is still on the map, it dried up six years ago. We spoke to some locals who remember fishing and enjoying the lake as well as making some money on the tourism side. WIll post the story once it has aired. Also had the fun of staying in a yurt. See pictures above.

As an aside, I work in a very strange business. So i'm in the middle of nowhere with Ben, but the weekend show decides that they can't live without Ben filing Kyrgyzstan. Ethnic violence and TV are a match made for each other. Not that Ben and I are going there, just file'er from where you're at. Now since Ben and I are literally in the middle of nowhere this presents what I would call a technical challenge. So it's 10 pm, the power is out do to an electrical storm, and I'm fair away from 3g cell service. So Ben writes said item and my resources producer suggests phoning it in. Not a bad idea, but one better. Send it as a voice note. Seems our blackberries can send voice note. So out comes the ipod mic/earphone combo and viola, TV. A medium as it is rarely done well. So from a Yurt in the middle of China, we bypass thousands of dollars of TV gear and file the voice track for a story on Kyrgyzstan. Done in the middle of a power failure in an electrical storm. Was a very strange night.

Also managed to lift a still from the video that caught a bolt of lightning. Pretty cool. Was a wicked storm over night. Made the yurt experience that much more interesting.

THAILAND MAY 19TH

Wednesday May 19th